An Historical Sketch of Babylon 143he plan the rebuilding, he did not live to see the
work finished. This was left to his son, Nebuchadnez-
zar, whose name is familiar in Biblical history.
The height and length of these later walls staggers
belief. They are reported upon reliable authority to
have been about one hundred and sixty feet high,
the equivalent of the height of a modern fifteen story
office building. The total length is estimated as be-
tween nine and eleven miles. So wide was the top
that a six-horse chariot could be driven around them.
Of this tremendous structure, little now remains ex-
cept portions of the foundations and the moat. In
addition to the ravages of the elements, the Arabs
completed the destruction by quarrying the brick for
building purposes elsewhere.
Against the walls of Babylon marched, in turn, the
victorious armies of almost every conqueror of that
age of wars of conquest. A host of kings laid siege
to Babylon, but always in vain. Invading armies of
that day were notto be considered lightly. Historians
speak of such units as 10,000 horsemen, 25,000 chari-
ots, 1200 regiments of foot soldiers with 1000 men to
the regiment. Often two or three years of preparation
would be required to assemble war materials and
depots offood along the proposed line of march.
The city of Babylon was organized much like a mod-
ern city. There were streets and shops. Peddlers offered
their wares through residential districts. Priests offici-
ated in magnificent temples. Within the city was an
inner enclosure for the royal palaces. The walls about
this were said to have been higher than those about
the city.
The Babylonians were skilled in the arts. These in-
cluded sculpture, painting, weaving, gold working
and the manufacture of metal weaponsand agricul-